This novella was bound to have plenty of steampunkery delight! & for the Morbid Romantica Challenge: Steampunkery Romantica Theme.

*Thanks to the author I was gifted this novella for an honestly insane review.*

Concoction of a Review: If you skipped straight to the review, this novella had to be full of steampunkery wonders. How could the Mad Scientist pass this one up?Clockworks & Corsets was very fun romp through the Steampunkery genre. Right from the start she tosses you into a unique world where an airship is crewed by the damned... Wait, *shakes out all images of Depp out of her head.* The airship is manned by women. Regina Riley tosses out the set images of an androcentric world.

Rose Madigan is the captain of an steampowered airship, The Merry Widow, which is used for a small parcel pick up and drop off service around the world. However, she has been looking for a job for quiet sometimes. When she is hired by Madame Ruby of the Red House Bordello the crew is tisking over working for a whore or what problems will arise if they do not get a paid job soon. They obvious wins. The crew is off to a mysterious island in the South Pacific to find a unknown object located in a missing Mad Scientist's, Doctor Laquacious, laboratory. The crew finds themselves the island entering into the long lost laboratory, meeting the son of the crazy Doctor Atom Laquacious, and caged up by the hands of the indigenous population.

The captain and some of the other crew members also find themselves in the arms of Click the cabin boy, the only male aboard the ship. The love making was steamy and sexy. Many of the scenes were explicit. BDSM and Masturbation can be found in Clockworks & Corsets.

Meanwhile, the sex continues we find out that Madame Ruby has an intent of taking over the world with this secret weapon that Rose's crew is to be bringing back to her. She is willing to use all of her charm to get what she needs to acquire it. One wealthy man at a time. The Mad Scientist is not a person who really enjoys a read with some sort of political agenda. Frankly it makes me search around looking for some gunpowder so I can blow something up. Nonetheless... I can hardly wait to see what our dear Madame Ruby has up her power hungry sleeve.

However, I must say that even though I greatly enjoyed Clockworks & Corsets it could of used more detail. Yes, I understand the purpose of novella is to have a short read. But if there was anything that could make this novella a bit better it would be details. So, simple. More details. I wanted to know more about the fashion, moreover more about corsets. It was in the title after all. Also, more details about the ship. I was happy to think of the Black Pearl the whole time but I think a bit more would help others see a airship more clearly.

Overall, I really enjoyed all of the Steampunkery elements that were to be had in such a short amount of pages including Jayne and her infinity for creating devices and scientist brain. There were plenty of fantastic characters. All of which, I will be waiting to read more of.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

It is time for the time that all of us book bloggers look forward to... The Blog Hopping! We love it because we get to see new blogs, check out designs & content & set up, and well to be completely honest... We love it because we get more followers. Nothing makes me happier or more loved when I randomly check my blog and find out more people love my blogs concept and just happen to enjoy what I just wrote! That is just to amazing to me. Not to say that I don't work hard on what I post but just the thought that someone cares about what I read or issues I bring to my followers attention.

"What book are you most looking forward to seeing published in 2011? Why are you anticipating that book?

Well, I declare! What is with the hard question?

I would have to say I'm looking forward to Elizabeth I by Margaret George! I love her historical writings. Helen of Troy was my favorite of her books thus far. She also lives in Wisconsin and I'm excited to go to her book signing :)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Well, since I'm an over achiever in oddball-dom I started this academic year at a private college in the middle! (I'm the only person with purple hair!) All the science classes were topped off before I could even suggest or think of continuing on in the science area. *sigh*

Yes, I was in a rather dismayed mood once I heard that.

But it allows me to go on in my original pursuit, history with an emphasis in war & torture/genocide.

A love of history and bloody battles comes from my father &

my tribes not so lovely history of tribal survival. :(

I do have all of BUT one upper level general ed requirement completed.

So, I'm over joyed that I get to hit the core classes this semester.

For History I'm taking:

Western Civilizations II -- A class that shoves 500 years of Euro history into a few hours!

Modern European History -- Perhaps I'll learn something about Europe today ;)

For Religious Studies I'm taking:

Women in the Bible -- Where there is too much sex talk! LOL!

Topics in the Bible -- I know Buddhism but not Christianity. 1st semester it is offered.

So, there are my classes. 4 credits a piece = 16 credits. 4 over full time :)

But I did some overlapping on my topics on purpose. I hope the new areas that I'm about to walk into will be pounded into my brain on just these specific topics. Just Europe & just the bible.

Yes, the syllabuses look like I will be crazy crazy busy.

Maybe I'll learn something I don't know.

Once I'm done with these classes I'll only have 16 more to go for my double major.

Whoop!

We will celebrate more then!

So, with this being said... take it easy one me. LOL!

I'll be around but not as much as before... I'll be skipping out on blog time so I can get some reading time in. I wont be participating in many extra posts but I hope to be giving you plenty of Steampunkery delights and book reviews.

I am so horrible but I admit I picked up this book purely because of Cover Lust… Nephilim themed read for Morbid Romantica Challenge. Swapped for it months ago, unsure of details now.

Concoction of a Review: I'm going to start off this review with the most positive thing I can say about the book. The cover is simply darling. *swoon* Gothic meets dark & twisted! I do believe the person who designed this cover really created a beautiful piece of work. The Mad Scientist is in love with the fact that I can go wild with facial images for Luce. Thanks for keeping her face hidden.

Lauren Kate'sfirst in theFallenseries did not thrill the Mad Scientist into becoming a fan by any means. I found the writing to be ok and the plot to also be just ok with nothing stand outish for me to latch onto. Many scenes were drawn out and repetitive which made about the first half of the book to be quite boring for me... until I found myself at page 182. Finally, some words that pulled me out of my must keep reading coma. Now I hope the story can move forward!

All he was doing was shaking the water from his wet head, but a glare if droplets seemed to hover over him, outside him, defying gravity in a wide span across his arms.
The way the water shimmered in the sunlight, it almost looked like he had wings.Page 182

Lucinda Price (AKA Luce) gets dropped off at Sword &amp; Cross by her parents, at less than traditional boarding school located in Savannah, Georgia. After getting to know Luce, I found out that her protagonist character is even more annoying than Bella Swan from Twilight. If I was her parents I would drop her off too! Things seem bleak for her here. She tries to get herself settled among the other students and appear normal. Luce meets some interesting people while she is at Sword &amp; Cross. I loved Arriane's character because she was a bit out there. It is always fun when you find a character that is NOT one dimensional.

Not only does Luce see shadows but she is internally battling with herself over her possible involvement of a mysterious death of a classmate/boyfriend. This I could understand but almost as soon as she walked into Sword & Cross she was swooning over two fellows. How badly could she feel bad about the loss of her old boyfriend? Magically, healed and ready for more action, it was seriously creepy how she was able to move on... Does she have no heart?

Her heart or lack thereof did help the story move. The love triangle was the most interesting part of the story. Daniel, Cam. Cam, Daniel. Now it would not be fair to you if I elaborated on their differences or let you know which one happens to be the one. But it is indeed intriguing. Just not nearly enough to have to book be what the Mad Scientist would consider good reading.

Perhaps, part of the problem lays in the book I read beforehand, Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. Her book probably made the Mad Scientist like this book less than if I would have read it first. Either way it should not take 1/3 of the book to finally aim in the direction of going somewhere. The book was defiantly missing a whole lot for me. I really hope thatKatecan provide more plot and dynamics to her characters in Torment. Character development would be the key for me, I just want to see more from Luce. Rating: 2

Overall, this was not my cup of tea! There was no sugar, lemon, or milk. Where was the crumpet?

I realize that I'm an odd ball on this book. I find that most have enjoyed it.

I am offering up a ARC of Cowboy Angels by Paul McAuley for one of my lovelies.

(Pictured above)

Before you Enter:

If you feel compelled to enter, I would like to ask the winner to be willing to read this book and provide a guest review to be featured on Steampunkery & Book Reviews since it is a book of the Steampunkery sort.

Chauncey was with a farmer's daughter on the grassy banks of the Loire River when the storm rolled in, and having let his gelding wonder in the meadow, was left to his own feet to carry him back to the Château.

Why the Mad Scientist Read this Book:I read this beauty last year before I had a blog, but this book fits in perfect with the Morbid Romantica Challenge: Nephilim theme.

Concoction of a Review:The day was gloomy at home. I looked at my shelves wanting to read something. *sigh* Nothing on one of my many shelves did not jump at me. I had the bulter ready the carriage to make a run to the libaray. Riding cloak in hand I was off. The library has the odd smell to it that only a book lover would enjoy. I took a deep breath and started to sally through the isles of inky wonders. I grabbed Hush Hush off the shelf not thinking it would amount to much but I wanted it.

*Gasps!* Becca Fitzpatrick, I was not expecting what was between those covers! This was much more than I expected… in a good way. I even managed to get my own hardcover copy of Hush Hush for my favorite books of all times shelf. *sigh* It is the most beautiful sight! Now I have a lovely hardcover copy of Cresendo right along side of it. Which I hope to get to soon.

Nora Grey, a sophomore seemed to be living a pretty wonderful life. Which included a truly grand friend, Vee. Those types of friends are hard to come by. They even endured Biology together. I know many groan at the though to of science but this was just a plus for me *grin*. Now us readers get a bit lucky and well, our duo have a stroke of discomfort when the dear biology professor decided to do the unspeakable. He made everyone change their lab partners, breaking up the girls. However, now Nora is now partnered with the mysterious silend badboy, Patch Cipria. From that moment, that little change her normal life was soon to be less then that. Everything starts to change….

Patch is one of those dark and brooding types that knows exactly what to say or not say to drive Nora to the brink of… lets just say he gets her all flustered and mad. Albeit her frustration with him she can't seem to stay away from Patch. It's a scary weird attraction she does not understand yet she is compelled by him. Nora is afraid to lust after him and she is just simply afraid due to a few mysterious occurances. There has to be something blasphemous about the possiblitiy of that relationship. The Mad Scientist really wanted to love him but he comes out as being creepy in the beginning, creepier then I would care to admit. But must admit I love the innuendos that come out of his mouth. I can just picture Noras knickers getting all twisted with her face all up in a huff of anger and embarrassment. It truly made me laugh out loud… more than once. Thanks to my dearest Becca for a darker male to swoon over, I needed that!

Picture cloaks, magnification glasses, and proper pick locks because Nora and Vee do some investigation of their own which leads nowhere. Soon, her fear switches to Vee who gets herself into a scary situation without knowing it. Vee is alone with Elliot and Jules who are not exactly what they seem.

Hush Hush was Becca Fitzpatrick's debut book, that made the Mad Scientist an instant fan! She has easily wiggled her way onto my favorites list and I can hardly wait for Crescendo to come out! Hush Hush was a fast paced page flipper. I personally could barely put it down! The story was I tense with well thought out plot twists. What I mean is, the Mad Scientist was guessing throughout the book instead of being told what I already figured out. Tis true, it is hard to out whit this brain.

Overall, the Mad Scientist is more then pleasantly pleased. It was a wonderful read and a great debut novel!

Rating: 4 Strong Blasts

Nora races through the twists and turns in the edge if fear. So did I. Well, at least on the edge part!

First Line - eARC:Lance tapped the beat of A Chorus Line's "What I Did for Love" on Allie's bedroom door.

Why the Mad Scientist read this book:Not only did I need a Steampunkery fix but I was looking for something different to read. This book fit the bill and it works for several challenges. The Morbid Romantica Challenge - Steampunkery Romantica. The Reading Bucket List Challenge - Time: Future. 111 in '11. Vampire Challenge 2011.

Concoction of a review:

This was a great ride – not your average ordinary bland bandwagon vampire novel. I wanted to read it fast because it was so good and slow because I didn’t want it to end. When Greyfrair finally did come to an end I was full of emotion for this book that once I read the last word I literally hugged the book. For the Mad Scientist this book was that good. No, it was an amazing string of words that needs to be put on a silver platter!

Vampire Empire: The Greyfriaris quite a book that is made by twisting and welding together Steampunkery, a dash of horror, whipped with major action and adventure, if that were not enough lets top it off with slight romance with a side of politics and of course some bloody war. Really, what in the world is this book missing. Not a thing!

However, this book was not good just because it was the ultimate at combining genres.Clay & Susan Griffithhave a gift for providing the most wonderful words together to bring you right into the book. The images that were tossing about in my head were bold and full which had me thinking I was really along for the ride. Not only did the imagery of the world blow me away but the fight scenes had me all up in a huff of excitement! I wanted to grab a sword and a hero and jump into the fight!

The Northern Hemisphere was attacked in 1870, nearly killing and destroying what we know to be the Western Civilization. The Great Killing.

Princess Adele, the heir of Equatoria is due to wed a renowned vampire killer, Senator Clark, and united her Empire with America. This arrangement now poses a threat to the vampires that live in the northern areas of the world. Adele and her younger brother Simon are on their way to northern territories for political matters in Marseilles when their dirigible is intercepted by a larger than normal ban of vampires lead by Flay. She is warrior vampress that follows orders from her master, Cesare the youngest son of King Dimitry. He is known for mass killing of humans. Now the heir of Equatoria, Adele, is running from… Flay. These vampires are parasitic with very powerful physical characteristics whom roam freely in the colder areas, feedlot humans for dinner, and terrorize others so they are afraid of being enslaved by them.

*Damsel in distress announces the entrance of said hero.*

The Greyfriar swoops in to save her. I fell in love with him as soon as he pulled out all of these weapons and started hacking up the vampires on top of him in a gory morbid way. *sigh* It is also quite a shock because The Greyfriar is a man whose stories of heroism and acts of battle are all thought to be fables. He ended up being this strong yet mysterious man who drew in not only me but our lovely Adele as well. (I should mention that she is crafty with a weapon as well!) Ultimately is kidnapped… ah, heiress-napped albeit her best efforts of flight and the efforts of her masked mystery fighter, by Flay who brings her to England for Cesare.

Enter… Gareth, the oldest son and heir to the Vampire Empire once King Dimitry leaves this world. He lives in Scotland away from his role of heir to the supposed throne. He pulls the heir card and takes Adele away from Cesare’s hand. He starts to learn more about “human” culture through Adele. I found myself chuckling when he was learning to write.

There is one huge shocking twist to this tale that had me and probably most of the readers a bit shocked when it was revealed. It is something that makes this story just that more incredible. I urge you to read this one because if you don’t you are missing out, *wink*.

The growth and development between Adele and Greyfriar was utterly touching, it had me dabbing a small tear away. Their emotions gradual grew to make it all that more believable. She was strong and held herself up to her values. He showed her that not all things you are taught are always right. She learned to trust another. The tender relationship between these two was very pleasing.

Overall, Loved Loved LovedVampire Empire: The Greyfriar. Tis was truly a grand tale of vampires and humans that was packed full of action right from chapter 1! I am going to be waiting for Book Two... Wait! I am already waiting for Book Two, from the minute this book ended!

*This book was so good that I had to make up an Ultimate Rating!! -- Mad Love!!!*

*Thanks to the wonderful people behind PYR who thought of the Mad Scientist. I received a copy of this fabulous Steampunkery novel, however, this had no affect on my actions, feelings, or review of this book in anyway.*